Wenger: We’ll have last laugh

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal will continue to challenge at the top for many years to come, despite struggling to compete with the financial resources of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, The Daily Mail reports.

Gunners fans have often been left frustrated with the lack of activity in the transfer market in recent years, especially as key players seem to leave every year with the promise of greater wages and better prospects of winning trophies.

But Wenger believes they will be rewarded for their careful spending, insisting that the big-spending of their rivals could come back to haunt them.

The Financial Fair Play rules are coming into force, meaning clubs are now restricted on how much of a loss they can make each season.

“We are run in a very responsible way. We make a profit every year and I think that’s where nearly everybody is struggling in Europe. We find ourselves in the situation of Germany in Europe.

“They ignored it until now, but finally we see that they are getting concerned,” Wenger said.

Arsenal fans may take some comfort from being in a stable financial situation, but they will not be happy to see their former star players succeeding elsewhere, especially now that Robin van Persie has made a cracking start to his time at Manchester United.

Wenger admits it was difficult to watch van Persie scoring for their bitter rivals and noted how disappointed he was to lose a player of such quality.

“It felt a bit strange. I was thinking, ‘He has the wrong shirt on. Why does he jump around like that in that shirt?’ Deep down I knew but I didn’t like it too much.”

Arsenal have invested in the likes of Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud to help fill the goal-scoring berth left by Van Persie.

After two goalless matches, the North Londoners finally broke their duck to beat Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield, with Cazorla and Podolski scoring their first goals for the club.

Wenger however, still believes he has enough firepower to challenge for the title: “The aim is to win the title. I’m the first to be disappointed if it doesn’t happen. But we have a fantastic squad with fantastic quality and I think it’ll work out.”